Turkey have put a huge dent in the Euro 2016 qualification hopes of the Netherlands and boosted their own by recording a 3-0 victory in their Group A qualifier.

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The home side took the lead in the eighth minute as Arda Turan found the run of Oguzhan Ozyakup, and the forward held his composure to slot the ball past Jasper Cillessen.

Netherlands almost got back into the match when Luciano Narsingh put a through-ball into the path of Robin van Persie. The forward opted to strike the ball from a tight angle, but Volkan Babacan was able to make the stop.

Serdar Aziz had a great opportunity to double Turkey's advantage as he latched on to a cross at the back post from Hakan Calhanoglu, but he could only send his header wide of the post.

The hosts did double their lead when Turan won the ball in midfield and drove into the box. The 28-year-old was afforded space and time to drive a low effort at goal that squirmed under the body of Cillessen and into the net.

Turkey almost notched their third goal of the game when Burak Yilmaz raided past Jeffrey Bruma and fired an effort at goal, but Cillessen made a good stop to keep his team in the game.

Georginio Wijnaldum should have got a goal back for Danny Blind's side at the start of the second half after latching on to a cross from Memphis Depay at the back post, but he put his header wide of the target.

Turkey almost punished Wijnaldum for his missed chance when Calhanoglu lofted a cross into the box from the right, but Aziz put his header past the post.

The visitors pushed to get back into the match in the final 10 minutes, but substitute Nigel de Jong wasted a good opportunity as he missed the target with a close-range header.

Yilmaz then secured the win for the home side by adding a third goal when he buried a strike past Cillessen into the bottom corner, lifting Turkey above their visitors into third.

Written by
Simon Sinclair